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tv   Andrea Mitchell Reports  MSNBC  March 21, 2024 9:00am-10:00am PDT

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side. you can see them chatting like they usually do. their wives are friends. they are very close. they have worked together for a very long time. you see their friendship right there at the game. that's where it's confusing. a few hours later, he was dismissed from the mlb and ohtani's lawyers accusing him of this massive theft. >> thank you so very much. really appreciate that. that wraps up the hour for me. i'm jose diaz-balart. you can reach me on social media @jdbalart. watch clips from our show on youtube. thank you for the privilege of your time. andrea mitchell picks up with more news right now. right now on "andrea mitchell reports," the justice department cracking down on apple with an antitrust lawsuit today alleging the tech giant has been blocking its rivals from accessing key features. >> we allege apple consolidated
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its power not by making its own products better but by making others worse. secretary of state blinken meeting with arab leaders in cairo, calling for an immediate cease-fire and hostage release before he heads to israel tomorrow and a possible showdown with prime minister netanyahu over his plans to invade rafah and his failure to grant more access to food for starving civilians in gaza. former president trump with four days to pay a nearly half billion dollar bond, or else some of his properties could be seized and sold. good day, everyone. i'm andrea mitchell in washington. moments ago, the u.s. attorney announcing the department of justice is taking on one of the
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world's biggest tech companies. garland says the doj is suing apple for antitrust violations, alleging the tech giants is blocking its rivals from accessing critical hardware and software features within the widely popular phone. in effect, illegally maintaining its dominance of the market. >> apple has maintained monopoly power in the smartphone market, not simply by staying ahead of the competition, but by violating federal antitrust law. consumers should not have to pay higher prices because companies break the law. >> this is the third antitrust lawsuit from the justice department against apple in 14 years. the company will defend itself against the suit, responding in a statement saying in part --
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>> joining me now from the department of justice, ken dilanian. also with us, heyman jabbard. how significant is it? what could the penalties bow? >> justice department officials put this in the context of some of the most famous cases in department history, including the breakup of standard oil, of at&t, the case against microsoft. they really powerfully accused apple of being a greedy monopolist. they have receipts. they have emails from the company. a lot of this stuff has to do with app developers and things consumers don't see. there's some things that really impacted the consumer. for example, they say that apple software engineers made it harder to message between apple phones and android phones. they say at one point, apple's
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ceo was asked by a journalist about this who said, look, i have trouble sending my mom videos. tim cook responded, buy her an iphone. they say that was sort of emblematic of the company's attitude, which is making it harder to switch to android and other competitive platforms, making it harder to use apps that go across apple platforms to other platforms, and forcing people to buy iphones. what justice department officials say is that raised the cost of smartphones and services and has harmed american consumers. >> some of the allegations against apple from blocking superapps and excluding cross platform messaging apps to limb -- limiting other items.
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>> because apple controls the app store, they have been able to throttle the growth of apps that compete against them and charge higher prices. those of us who use the apps and are paying the fees are paying higher fees as a result. you are paying more money for your iphone up front and you are paying more money for the apps that you use inside the apple ecosystem because the department of justice says that apple is breaking the law and using its monopoly power in order to control access to that device. that means for the rest of us, higher prices. >> it was long rumored the lawsuit from the department of justice again of apple has been about to take place. why are they doing this now? how does this -- why now? what does apple do next? this is going to be, from my experience covering at&t and that, that took years, a decade. >> we expect years here, certainly, in this case as well. if you talk to the folks at the
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department of justice, they say, we bring the case when it's ready. the facts are that the investigation into apple began under the trump administration back before the biden folks came to power. the biden folks who are running the department of justice now certainly do see a clock running in terms of the end of at least the first term of a biden administration and the rise of potentially a new trump administration after the november election. the reason to do this now is to move forward while they are still in power. but it's going to be months and years. so an open political overlay on this is, what would a second term trump administration do if they were to win in november with this case? it's a populist case. the investigation began under trump. there's some speculation that maybe trump would leave this alone if he were to come to power in january next year. all of that, of course, is speculation. we are at the very early stages of this right now. >> ken, on another subject, this was the first time you had a chance to talk to the attorney
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general about the controversial hur report. let's listen to what he said. >> the idea that an attorney general would edit or redact or sensor a special counsel's explanation for why the special counsel reached the decision that special counsel did, that's absurd. >> so, ken, talk to me about his answer. that's been very controversial. it was the -- obviously, the comments about the president and some of the language that was used, the description. >> he was not trying to attack the president. i asked him about the white
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house criticism of him, why he didn't prevent that language from getting in the report. he said, look, i don't work for the white house. i'm not the president's lawyer. i'm a lawyer representing the american people. pretty forceful response from mr. garland. i should add on the apple lawsuit that we are getting new information from a briefing, a background that's going on, where a justice department official is not ruling out a potential breakup of apple, saying that structural remedies are one possibility here, assuming they win this lawsuit and get to the penalty phase. >> that is why these are so controversial. the controversy surrounding the antitrust legislation. we are having a technical freeze here. let's keep going. we will be back in just a moment. a month, each lasting 4 hours or more - can be overwhelming. so, ask your doctor about botox®. botox® prevents headaches in adults with chronic migraine before they even start. it's the #1 prescribed branded chronic migraine
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the u.s. has submitted a draft resolution to the u.n. security council. it's the first time calling for an immediate cease-fire in gaza. it would be tied to the release of hostages. it brings the u.s. closer to the rest of the world which proposed a permanent cease-fire resolution three times that the u.s. has vetoed. antony blinken is in egypt today. he will be in israel tomorrow. prime minister netanyahu has been defying president biden's
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wishes to get more aid into gaza and hold off on a ground invasion into rafah. this as the humanitarian crisis has been approaching catastrophic levels of starvation, with children now dying from hunger. adding to the urgency to pause the fighting. >> that would bring immediate relief to so many people who are suffering in gaza, the children, the women, the men. it would allow a much greater expansion of humanitarian assistance getting to them. and it could create the conditions to have a lasting, enduring cease-fire. >> joining me now is nbc's raf sanchez from tel aviv, michael crowley traveling with secretary blinken in egypt, and with me in the studio is professor ziv. he is the author of the book "netanyahu versus the generals, the battle for israel's future."
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raf, to you. secretary blinken said a truce is getting closer. negotiations have been going on for weeks and weeks. they are back in doha. not at the top senior level, but getting closer. what are you hearing? >> reporter: secretary blinken says he believes the gaps between israel and hamas are narrowing and that he believes a deal is still possible. we heard the qataries throughout this crisis saying earlier this week that they are cautiously optimistic about the progress that is being made at the negotiating table. neither israel nor hamas are sounding anywhere near as positive as the americans or the qataries. that's perhaps to be expected. both sides trying to improve their negotiation positions and also looking to blame the other if these talks collapse.
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the talks have not collapsed so far. both sides remaining at the table. secretary blinken says he will keep pushing. the u.s. will keep pushing to try to get this deal over the line. as we have talked about many times, the broad outlines of this deal have been known for some time, at least in the first stage there would be a six-week cease-fire, release of roughly 40 hostages being held by amaas in exchange for potentially several hundred palestinian prisoners. it may be that for the biden administration, the security council resolution is a way of piling pressure on all sides at the talks in doha and make the point it's the will of the international community at this point for there to be a deal, for there to be a cease-fire, for the hostages to come out and more humanitarian aid to get in. >> indeed. michael, you have been traveling around the world right now with secretary blinken, who has been in asia and now here.
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this is his sixth trip to the middle east. he has been doing these shuttles. there's a level of frustration because the tension between mr. netanyahu and the president. it does put more pressure on israel when they are still reluctant to condition arms deliveries. canada has, but they are still, i'm told, in the white house not ready to do that if the prime minister does go into rafah. >> andrea, it's been -- we have been with the secretary of state for a week now. we came in from saudi arabia this morning, before that the philippines and south korea. on the u.n., yes, it is some leverage. honestly, the administration has been framing its rhetoric about a potential cease-fire in recent
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weeks around pressuring hamas and trying to make the argument -- almost trying to reframe the way people are talking about this and say that hamas is as responsible as israel is for the fact that the hostages are not getting out, that the fighting is not stopping and trying to turn the lens on hamas. i think that whatever other reasoning the administration might have, i think it clearly serves -- let's be honest -- a political motive, which is that the u.s. has been isolated at the u.n., stopping resolutions, calling for an indefinite open-ended, long-term cease-fire that would require israel to stop its military campaign in gaza regardless of what hamas does. the administration is now essentially saying, you know, we're actually for a cease-fire. in reality, this is a temporary cease-fire. it's what the administration until several weeks ago was calling a humanitarian cease-fire.
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it serves a political purpose for the biden administration to put itself in the position of trying to call for peace after having been perceived as thwarting international calls for a stop to the fighting. it gets mixed up in the terminology again, the difference between a cease-fire which is open-ended and what we are talking here about which is more of a pause in the fighting. >> i want to get into some of the politics here. first with you. the prime minister is apparently -- he talked to the republican caucus, the senate caucus yesterday. he is apparently -- michael johnson is now inviting him to address congress. that's what netanyahu did, which so offended the obama white house, because he came without warning and without any prime notice to the white house that he was coming to address a joint session. that's usually done between
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leaders -- at the leader level. he came to oppose the iran nuclear talks. now he is coming to make his case about what's happening with gaza when there is growing pressure from the administration to do something about the humanitarian situation. they believe that israel is blocking a lot of the aid from more easily getting in through another land crossing. what is your analysis? >> for one thing, we have to consider domestic politics here and in israel. this discussion with the republican leadership comes in the wake of schumer's speech a week ago. senator schumer, the majority leader, is the highest ranking jewish official in the united states. has a large record in support of israel. has rarely issued any public condemnations of israel. called on the israelis to hold
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elections early and decide for themselves what kind of leader they need. he was critical of netanyahu. there was some criticism of the senator for intervening in israeli politics. as you pointed out, netanyahu has done that on plenty of occasions, including his speech in front of a joint session of congress on the eve of president obama's signature foreign policy achievement, which was the jcpoa. i should note that despite the controversy of schumer's speech, he had the full backing of not only president biden and nancy pelosi and other prominent democratic leaders, in israel a group of former retired air force pilots -- it's call the 555 forum -- issued a statement in full support of senator schumer's statement, as did the
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former prime minister. there's some support in israel for reigning in netanyahu. israelis are very uncomfortable with the notion that israel is becoming a partisan football. there was a traditional strong bipartisan support for israel. >> exactly. >> that's been changing, in part because of netanyahu. >> michael, i want to ask you about the appropriations bill -- i don't know if you had time to look at it. they are still reading it. this zeros out the money for the u.n. relief organization that according to the secretary of state has unique capability to get aid from the borders, from the crossings, to the interior, to the people who need it in gaza. >> andrea, that's going to be a huge challenge. there's not really any other organization -- there is no other organization that has the infrastructure that can provide that aid to people in gaza. we're in a really difficult
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position if congress is saying, no money, the u.s. is saying they will try to find alternatives, but they don't exist. you would have to create them, stand them up. you are going to create them -- it's going to have to be run by the people of gaza, many of whom have affiliations with hamas. you may bump into similar problems. i don't know how this gets solved. it's a tough one. it comes at a dire moment for the people of gaza, just not another obstacle that they need to getting aid and supplies. >> i want to ask you about the title of your book, "netanyahu versus the generals." that has been a recurring theme since october 7th and during the protests a year before. a lot of military joined the anti-netanyahu protests against his trying to overturn the judicial system. it surprised some people in
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washington when the opposition minister came here and supported the ground invasion of rafah. they thought that he is the potential alternative if there were elections or an interim government after netanyahu. but he is also hardline on getting hamas out. is there a division in the military now over the actual battleground offensive that the u.s. says alternatives should be used to a ground offensive that would have potentially mass casualties? >> the goal of eliminating, destroying hamas is shared by nearly everyone in israel. i would add, the united states as well, or at least the biden administration. the question is, what can we done to weaken hamas? netanyahu's pledge for total victory is simply unrealistic. that's not something the military establishment in israel believes is feasible. both the political and the military establishment greatly
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underestimated both hamas' abilities and willingness to attack israel. that is in large part what led to the surprise attack on october 7th. but there's definitely a crisis of confidence in netanyahu. there's a big gap between the security community in israel and netanyahu. that's why i wrote this book, because netanyahu has this image that he has cultivated over the years as mr. security. this is a reputation he had for decades. the israeli security establishment has never bought into that and has seen him as a security liability rather than a security asset. i think we are seeing more and more of that play out today in the wake of the gaza war and the wake of the october 7th massacre. as youpointed out, the fight last year.
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legal limbo. the latest from the border. a federal appeals court decides whether a texas immigration law can go into affect. this is "andrea mitchell reports." you are watching msnbc.
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we are still awaiting a big decision from the fifth circuit court of appeals on the future of the controversial texas immigration law. it would put policing power in the happen hands of local group. the governor of texas says if the law is overturned, it would be catastrophic. let's head to the border and david noriega in eagle pass, texas. do residents and law enforcement
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know what is going to happen? are they ready to start enforcing it or will they wait for the supreme court? >> reporter: andrea, the short answer is nobody really knows what it would look like if this law were to go into affect, even the attorney representing texas in yesterday's hearing before the fifth circuit panel acknowledged that he could not paint a clear picture of what enforcement of this law would look like. law enforcement is an interesting set of people to talk to about this. nbc news has interviewed multiple sheriffs in texas. many of them support the law. they support governor abbott. they are willing to do whatever they need to do. others, particularly here in border counties, are uncertain, confused, a little worried about what this will mean for their departments given the limited resources. if the law does go into affect, given the recent press -- precedent of lone star, we can expect most to be carried out by state troopers targeting
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migrants crossing the river. it will likely be challenged in constitutional court. the bottom line is that in a number of respects, if this law were to go into affect, we would be truly in unchartered territory. >> thank you so much. bite of the apple. next, more on today's big breaking news. the justice department's antitrust lawsuit against apple. you are watching "andrea mitchell reports" on msnbc. you know what's brilliant? boring. think about it. boring is the unsung catalyst for bold. what straps bold to a rocket and hurtles it into space? boring does. boring makes vacations happen, early retirements possible, and startups start up. because it's smart, dependable, and steady. all words you want from your bank. for nearly 160 years, pnc bank has been brilliantly boring so you can be happily fulfilled...
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by downloading duckduckgo on all your devices today. apple creates barriers that make it extremely difficult and expensive for both users and developers to venture outside the apple ecosystem. >> we are following this big breaking news from the department of justice. apple now facing a massive antitrust lawsuit for its alleged monopoly of the smartphone app market, making it more difficult for rival developers to create products to run on their phones and more expensive for customers. the suit was filed in federal court in new jersey. joining me now is the new jersey attorney general who joined garland at the justice department for this big announcement. it was filed in new jersey because you were the lead attorney general among the states joining the feds. >> we were one of a bipartisan coalition of 16 states along with the department of justice.
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we're proud to be filing this suit in the district of new jersey. >> tell us why it would be good for consumers, people who might be happy with their iphone and line up to get the new version of the iphone. what is the problem here? what are they blocking unfairly, uncompetitively according to antitrust law as you allege? >> look, as the complaint shows, apple is the big player. we know that approximately seven in ten smartphones are iphones. apple has used that power to exclude other businesses and developers from innovating in ways that hurt consumers. consumers today are spending more for an inferior product because of apple's business purchase. >> i will play devil's advocate. what's wrong with relying on apple, which knows its business, presumably, to just come out with a new phone all the time? your answer is because they can ramp up and charge anything they want for every new model.
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>> they can charge not only consumers significantly more, but they are charging developers. they are taking 30% of what developers are getting on the app store. they charge banks extraordinary fees just to use apple's wallet. and preventing innovation in ways that would allow new apps and new technology coming on their platform in ways that would help consumers in this country. >> can this be fixed by them not charging so much for the developers or the banks? give back some of that money so that there's more innovation elsewhere? >> i think there's a number of steps that apple could have taken and chose not to that would have allowed competition. not only would it help consumers pay less, it would have increased privacy and security on the platform and given them a broader range of experiences that are available on other platforms and that could be available on cheaper technology if apple would allow it. >> you were pointing out the irony is microsoft was facing an antitrust suit from apple going
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back. >> apple was part of the lawsuit in the '90s that helped allow competition on microsoft's platform. that was stifling innovation at apple. now apple a few decades later has followed microsoft's playbook and stifled innovation on its platform that has resulted in reduced innovation, reduced competition and ultimately americans paying more for their products. >> there's antitrust history here. we don't have to go back to standard oil. you have got what happened to the airline industry, what happened to at&t and the telephone industry. is the ultimate remedy to break apple up, for the government to force apple to break up? >> i think the courts will assess the remedies here. i think as a general matter, the attorney general of the united states and the attorney general of states are responsible for protecting our residents, including their economic well-being. the antitrust laws of this country and our states ensure
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that consumers should not be disadvantaged by exclusionary business practices like those that apple has done and some of the industries that you referenced. ultimately, the actions taken by us today will help consumers pay less for better products. >> are you sure they would be better products? i know the theory that monopolies bar competition and innovation. if apple gets it right, could they argue, why have some other company come in with an inferior product? >> apple is paying twice as much in stock buybacks than research and development. they are able to keep innovation from coming. the same way apple disrupted the marketplace a few decades ago with the ipod and iphone, they are keeping innovators from getting on their platform that would improve people's experiences and help them pay less. if you adjusted the iphone how
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much it should cost it would be $450. it costs over $1,500 in many instances today. >> is this going to take a decade, years and years? >> we know this is a fight. apple is one of the largest companies in the world. we are prepared for it. i'm proud to be joined by a bipartisan coalition of 16 attorneys general, 16 states, and the federal department of justice. we are ready. as garland said, we wouldn't bring this if we weren't ready to win. >> it's a pleasure to meet you. thanks for coming over from doj. >> thank you for having me. >> it's a pleasure. the cash dash. former president trump running out of time to come up with nearly half a billion dollars. will he meet the deadline? you are watching "andrea mitchell reports" on msnbc. when i first learned about my dupuytren's contracture, my physician referred me to a hand specialist. and i'm glad he did, because when i took the tabletop test, i couldn't lay my hand flat anymore. the first hand specialist i saw only offered surgery.
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what assets of donald trump could the new york ag look at first to seize? what are you hearing? >> she will probably start with the easier to get assets. start with things like brokerage accounts,accounts, cash or stocks. if she moves to seize physical property, that's more complicated. but she may start with trump's share in a large office building on sixth avenue in new york city. some other things where you wouldn't have to physically roust him from the building or his employees. you could just take over his share. she could look at trump tower, office buildings that are valuable that he owns all or a share of in new york city. >> there's a report on bloomberg that she might look at some of his westchester properties, a
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golf course, a mansion. >> that would be fitting. that golf course played a big role in the lawsuit, the fraud allegations that led to this judgment. >> donald trump's attorneys are now taking issue with a filing from james yesterday in which she said that he should turn over his real estate if he cannot secure the cash. is there a chance this bond amount gets reduced? >> i think there is a chance. it feels like he is doing a brinksmanship, which is really one of his bag of tricks throughout his career. monday feels like we are hitting midnight. but i wouldn't be surprised if james gives him more time. it's possible the appeals court weighs in. they are in a game of chicken. he does have other options, a guardian angel who posts a big amount of money. i think at the end of the day, he will not want james to have
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her pick. she's already doing a legal move that could permit her to get seven springs. he will do something to put it together. first, i think the game of chicken will go on for a while, and he will try to force more time or a reduction of the bond, something like that. i think monday may not be the absolute deadline it feels like. >> there's also an ongoing fight in the hush money case over the documents. trump's team had access to d.a. bragg -- the trump team didn't have access to the governments they were supposed to have. d.a. bragg saying that less than 300 of those documents provided to team trump are relevant to the case. it's not thousands and thousands. he slams the delay tactics. they lost a month just now. saying, enough is enough, adding, a grand jury of regular new yorkers indicted donald trump on 34 felony counts of falsifying records to corrupt the 2016 presidential election.
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this court held the evidence supported those charges. the people urge the court to reject defendant's motion in its entirety. which way do you think that might go? >> i think it's going in the direction that bragg is saying. i think they will give a short deadline. there are two things going on. how much time does he need? there's not much in there. 30 days should do it. the judge is concerned about what happened exactly for the late turnover. there's going to be a hearing where he will probe that. the question will be, how much time does trump need? trump is asking for 90 days or more. bragg is saying 30 days. i see him coming down on bragg's side. >> the d.a. got it late from former the former manhattan -- i
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guess it was cy vance who had the papers in the case when they were investigating. >> it's the u.s. attorney for the southern district of new york. they will be in the hearing, too. >> my apologies to cy vance. the legal cases he is facing, none have a trial date. we are a month away from the supreme court hearing the immunity issue. the delays are playing into his favor. at some point, the immunity issue is what everyone will look at. >> that's right. i think these delays, which has been his tactic, now he has an extra weapon to help him pursue that tactic, which is to throw out arguments about presidential immunity that are perhaps ridiculous and novel and courts take a long time to opine on novel things. it is working for him. i think we will see a trial in at least the hush money case in manhattan before the election. possibly the beginning of a trial in the january 6th case, depending on how the supreme court rules and how fast they
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rule. you are right, the delay tactic for him, if he is trying to push this toward the election or after, certainly seems like that's working for now. >> thank you very much for being with us. we appreciate you. family matters. how the kennedy family is trying to keep one of their own from throwing a wrench into president biden's re-election hopes. you are watching "andrea mitchell reports." this is msnbc. you always got your mind on the green. not you.
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. with their own brother, uncle, and cousin, robert f. kennedy junior running as an independent for president and potentially acting as a spoiler could throw the race to donald trump. the close-knit kennedy family is going public in a big way behind president biden. three generations of kennedys were at the what house on st. patrick's day posing for a photo with president biden, with some now openly voicing concern that rfk jr. who's had a controversial record as a vaccine denier, conspiracy theorist, could tip a close election to donald trump. joining us now is jonathan lemire, host of way too early right here on msnbc. susan page, usa today's bureau chief. a dnc spokesperson saying the picture is worth a thousand words and this white house photo is no accident. >> reporter: yeah, andrea, no doubt at all. i've attended a few of these st.
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patrick's day receptions at the white house, it's carefully managed in terms of who gets an invitation. that was an unusual display of force, and it was no accident whatsoever. first of all, most members of the kennedy family have spoken out against robert f. kennedy jr.'s presidential run saying that he is a dangerous candidate on issues like vaccinations and more than that that he could play a spoiler role that could toss the white house to donald trump, and that is something that the democratic national committee and the biden re-election team is grappling with. they understand that third-party candidates are a real threat. traditionally third-party candidates hurt democrats more than republicans, we certainly saw that in 2000 and 2016, just to name two examples, and cordell west and jill stein were potentially a no labels candidate. right now robert f. kennedy jr. at the top of the list, which is why the party just put together a war room, if you will, to combat third-party candidates including some communications staff and lawyers to try to head
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off those challenges, and they -- as they try to push publicly and privately to keep these candidates out of the race. and susan and jonathan to both of you, we saw what happened to hillary clinton in 2016, without a third-party candidate she probably would have won. donald trump sort of has a ceiling on his base, but if joe biden loses to third-party candidates which he certainly could with a lot of democrats voting for a candidate just because of the name and not knowing perhaps enough or anything about robert f. kennedy jr.'s record. >> that's exactly right. jill stein in 2016 got only about 1% of the national vote, but in her memoir, hillary clinton blamed her for costing her michigan and pennsylvania and wisconsin, really close states that determined the election. there is a lot of -- here. the best way democrats can oppose third-party candidates is to keep them off the ballot.
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in a lot of states, the two major parties have made it really tough to get on the ballot. you have to get tens of thousands of signatures. and so we now see democrats ramping up efforts to succeed in keeping them off the ballot, and then the next step, of course, when they're on the ballot and we know that robert f. kennedy jr. expects to get on the ballot in states like nevada and georgia and michigan, then that will be the second phase of this battle trying to keep him from tipping the election to donald trump. >> and jonathan, let's talk about the battle for control of the senate, which could be considerably tougher if they lose maryland, former maryland governor very popular republican governor larry hogan is running for the senate seat, and he's now polling better than both of the democrats in the race. a poll has hogan within ten points ahead of his democratic rivals. they can only afford to lose one seat and they lose control of the senate potentially. >> yeah, this is a very
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challenging math for democrats. even if they were to win the white house again, there has been enough of a phenomenon of ticket splitting, you're right to identify west virginia with joe manchin not running again, he's perceived by all as the only democrat who could win statewide in west virginia, which is one of the reddest states in the nation. that state's gone. republicans for a while have targeted ohio, sherrod brown, and montana, jon tester. they think those are two states where they've got great pickup chance. senator brown has a knack for winning in ohio in a state that is growing more red and his aides believe he got a gift this week because he's facing a maga friendly candidate. montana, it's tough to win as a democrat in that state. there are a number of other challenging them to play defense. maryland now surging to the top of that list, and from a democratic perspective, really no state where they have the ability to flip one from red to
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blue. it's going to be hard, not impossible, but difficult for democrats to keep the senate. >> it could also involve, as you point out, a lot about the top of the ticket. susan, at a fundraiser, we don't have video, but we have the transcript of it, the president is openly joking about donald trump's debt in dallas yesterday, he was talking about, you know, that times are tough, the polls show us that. someone even came up to try to hit him up for some money, and he said, donald, i'm not going to be able to help you out. so are we going to see more of that? >> he made fun of trump at the gridiron dinner saturday, saying his student debt relief program couldn't extend to donald trump when he came out looking for a handout. biden has had bad news politically, trump has had bad news politically too in the fact that he's facing this enormous
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financial court order to put up money i'm sure is weighing heavily on them. trump's legal fees which are being paid by party funds has cost republicans financially as they try to build up a war chest for ads in this election now that democrats have about twice as much money as the republicans do in these party accounts. >> and we did get a chance, our team on capitol hill, jonathan to ask marco rubio, senator rubio from florida, of course, where he was on a short list or whatever for vice president for donald trump, and he said that he had no conversations with trump about this, but asked if he would take a vice presidential nomination if offered, he said that that would be the kind of honor -- i'm paraphrasing -- that no one would turn down. that would be interesting, especially considering some of the video from their past debates. >> yeah, certainly, rubio is far from alone for being something who was formerly critical of trump to now largely supportive
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and praising him every chance he could get. the two are not close. they both have florida as a home state. that would mean they would have to sacrifice that state's electoral votes. that's a lot that trump undoubtedly can't afford to lose those in what we expect to be a close race. perhaps this is a sign of warming relations between the two men, and certainly we know trump's campaigns hopes to do better with latinos, but i would expect there are others on the short list who have a greater chance here than florida's senator. >> couldn't exactly change his residency the way dick cheney did so he could run for president from texas. jonathan lemire, susan page, i've got to go. that does it for us for this edition of "andrea mitchell reports." "chris jansing reports" starts right now with yasmin